How long it takes to be a millionaire

The graph shows it would take 25 years for an Australian household to reach the millionaire status.

If you are chasing the magic million mark, chances are you’ll get there quicker in Australia than any other country in the Asia Pacific.

A graph released by The Economist shows how long it takes to become a millionaire in countries around the world and the news is relatively good for households in Australia.

The graph shows it would take 25 years for an Australian household to reach the millionaire status, based on pre-tax median household income.

In the Asia-Pacific region, Australia was the quickest followed by Japan and then South Korea, with China and India not featuring in the list of top 20.

Scroll down to find out who Australia's richest people are

US tops the charts with households expected to take barely 20 years to get to the mark and Norway came in a close second. Switzerland was ranked fourth.

The figures are based on how much the average breadwinner in each household earns in a year, excluding taxes.

The chart shows two figures are given for each country: one at market exchange rates and the other at purchasing-power parity.

At the fag end of the list is Romania with a household requiring 350 years to get to the million-dollar mark. At 170 years, Chile is 16th in the list, ahead of Turkey (240 years), Bulgaria (255 years) and Mexico (just over 300 years).

Another report released last week offered much better news Asia-Pacific’s aspiring rich.

The 2012 World Wealth Report, released by business consultant Capgemini and its partner RBC Wealth Management, the Asia-Pacific region (excluding the United States) had the world’s largest population of “High Net Worth Individuals” at 3.37 million.

This compared to 3.35 million in the United States and 3.17 million in Europe. 2011 was the first time that Asia-Pacific millionaires outstripped those in the United States.

Japan made up more than half the region’s millionaires, with the number increasing by 4.8 percent.

The number of millionaires in China grew by 5.2 percent and resource-rich Australia accounted for five percent.